#VLD3

[angstandhappiness]

INTERESTING

Okay. So because it has been specifically requested, an examination of Lotor’s sword. I’m sorry to anyone who was excited for this because it just… isn’t.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a nice solid sword with smooth lines, good visual flow, not gaudy – actually it’s quite plain and practical. Almost militaristically utilitarian. 

Which in and of itself is interesting given all the fandom expectations for Lotor to be a something of a lavish, exceedingly vain, and impractical sort. That sword suggests a personality that runs quite the opposite, unlike the extremely detailed and fanciful swords his father conjures with a bayard. The Blades of Marmora have more detailing going on than Lotor does.

Aside from that though, there’s not much I can glean historically based on the sword. A backswept thick crossguard like that isn’t a terribly common sword design, and is seen more often in animation and video games than reality. 

Indian Khandas and Patissas have backswept crossguards a little similar that, but this sword lacks the telltale markers of the Kanda’s wide, flat-ended blade shape, single edged blade, the arching hook on the pommel butt, or the one-sided basket-hilt-inspired finger guard. The pre-17th century (pre-European influence) Patissas are closer with thier lack of finger guards and often a lack of hook with a short thick backswept crossguard, but it’s only a single point of similarity, and not a strong one since Lotor’s crossguard sweeps back with thick and heavy finger guards on both sides – which would restrict movement strangely on a double edged blade and is why this just isn’t a design that happens in real swords. Lotor’s sword also lacks the distinctive triangular hilt extension running up the center of the blade. It just doesn’t match too many vital key markers.

Similarly, some Chinese Jian/Longsword designs have backswept hilts, but that is the extent of the similarity, again, nothing else about it from blade shape on seems to match.

The apparent two-handed hilt grip also makes it a bad match for most east Asian swords. They’re usually one-handed, sometimes a hand and a half, but Lotor could clearly comfortably fit both hands on it.

In fact, if you ignore the odd crossguard entirely, the sword becomes a very basic, very nice-but-boring-and-generic European Longsword. The large hit and length puts it towards the “bastard” and “great” sword size, as is also suggested by the long ricasso (unsharpened section just above the hilt). The blade cross section seems to be a mix of a diamond and hexagonal form, and the hilt a standard diamond shaped pommel. 

By no means a bad sword design, it’s just, largely uninteresting from a historical and meta commentary perspective.

[whalechief]

*jazz hands* its midnight and i want to hurt so i went to look at some of my fav @heartlesslywhumping prompts and remembered s3e4 was a very...touch and go situation if keith hadnt thrown a fucking sword that fast

[midnight-weblum-hunting]

Allura (Season 1 - 8)

[absolem0]

“Don’t ever think about doing something so stupid again, Keith”

Distressed boys after Keith’s near-death experience

[marmoraskeith]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

original below the read more

[kyojurotchi]

zarkon meeting a pretty girl is such a big mood

[softhance]

pink paladin allura + her whip bayard

[sugarsculls]

OH I FUCK SO HARD WITH THIS

[luzamitys]

thatd be sad if it turns out shiro isn’t a clone and yall are just roasting him for just being himself

[rogue-elf]

this is the dumbest thing I've ever made

[votlron]

i will never stop

[aqrilene]

that’s really... comforting

[littlespacestars]

CAN WE JUST APPRECIATE LANCE AND ALLURA’S BLOSSOMING FRIENDSHIP AND RESPECT?? BECAUSE I AM RIGHT NOW OHmy god. 

[2amscrolls]

redraw of s3 episode 3! everyone looks distressed and I kinda dig it

pidge hunk keith allura lance

[fillintheincorrectquote]

A: Wow! How did you do it?

B: I just had to get into a [C]-like mindset and stop thinking so much.

C: Yeah, think like [C]! –Wait a minute. Are you calling me dumb?

B: No, I'm calling you a natural!

D: Naturally dumb.

A: Yeah, they were born with it.

E: Look, I'm glad we're all making fun of [C], but we still have to find a way out of here.

[Source - Voltron Legendary Defender]

[pocketmilo]

“hey man”